Fins

There are two major types of fins on the market today; open heeled and close heeled. Open heeled are more common among SCUBA divers, but there are a few free diving specific versions of open heeled fins available on the market today. The advantages of open heeled would be the ease of donning and the ability to wear hard soled dive boots with them. This is useful when diving in an area where access to the sea is restricted by rocks and rough terrain as the boots will protect the diver’s feet and the fins can easily be donned at the water’s edge. The disadvantages of open heeled fins would be the overall bulky design of a foot pocket and the loss of power common with the loose fit of these style fins.

Polymer Open Heel Freedive Fin
(click picture for details) Close heeled fins are the preferred choice for free diving and there are many free dive specific versions on the market today. The top two advantages of the close heeled fins would be streamlined design and secure fit. The secure fit translates into increased power and the streamlined design results in reduced drag. There are a lot of factors to review beyond the simple open heeled / close heeled design types. Blade length, stiffness, and material are the next important factors. Longer length blades are preferred overall and definitely for deeper diving as they will provide the much greater propulsion needed during ascent and ease the overall exertion during descent. Stiffer blades are desired for deeper diving, again, for increased propulsion and efficiency.

Carbon Fiber Closed Heel Freedive Fin
(click picture for details) The three most common materials used in manufacturing blades are polymer (commonly referred to as plastic), fiberglass and carbon fiber. Carbon fiber provides the stiffest blade which results in the best propulsion with least efforts. They are also the lightest available. The disadvantages of carbon fiber blades would be the fact that they are much more delicate, and quite expensive. Fins with carbon blades range in price from $300 to $500 US dollars. Fiberglass blades provide nearly the same stiffness as the carbon blades, are more rugged, and can generally be purchased for about $100 US dollars less than carbon. Fiberglass blades provide a nice, lower cost, alternative to carbon blades.

Fiberglass Closed Heel Freedive Fin
(click picture for details) Polymer blades are the most common blades on the market. They range in price from $100 - $200 US dollars. Of course polymer blades do not provide the stiffness of carbon and fiberglass, but they are very rugged and the least expensive. Polymer fins are great to start out with and are definitely the most common used.

Polymer Closed Heel Freedive Fin
(click picture for details) Now, with the above information you are ready to move on to the next most important deciding factor when purchasing your fins… FIT. Although it isn’t quite as important as the fit of your mask, a proper fitting fin will result in more power, efficiency, and most importantly comfort. A poorly fitting fin can result in cramping, blistering, and power loss. The best way to decide on a fin is to try them on. Make sure to wear a pair of neoprene socks and try different sizes and different models. The ideal fin should fit slightly snug so that you do not have any slop, but should not fit too tight. A fin that fits too tight will only result in your feet cramping while you are diving. The silicon foot pockets of the fin will generally conform to your feet nicely, but make sure that the overall pocket design isn’t too narrow or too wide for your foot as the foot pocket will not drastically change in shape with use.
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